NICOLA SPURLING, BC GREEN: COQUITLAM-MAILLARDVILLE
Green Party candidate Nicola Spurling said she would be an ideal MLA for Coquitlam-Maillardville because she is living the same struggles as many of the riding’s residents.
From housing affordability to transportation, she said the BC Liberals have not done enough to help working people, and said voters need to look at her party as an alternative.
“I live in a small 600-sq. ft. apartment and that has to do with the fact that we have a housing crisis right now,” she said. “[Housing] is part of the reason why I became involved.”
Spurling is a long-time LGBTQ2 advocate and said she wants to see more diversity in B.C. politics. She chaired the Vancouver Pride Society’s outreach committee, travelling around the province offering support and fielding questions.
It is through her work with Pride that she got the attention of Green leader Andrew Weaver, who asked her to run in Coquitlam-Maillardville.
“He thought I would be a good fit,” she said of her conversation with the Oak Bay-Gordon Head MLA.
Spurling was born in White Rock but grew up in Burnaby before moving to Tsawwassen. She said she made her way to Coquitlam four years ago because it was a place where she could afford to live while still being close to her job in downtown Vancouver.
A Green government, she said, would address the speculation issues that she blames for the huge hikes in house prices and rents across Metro Vancouver.
“You have to deal with speculation,” she told The Tri-City News. “We have a lot of people buying houses to flip [them]. We need to focus on housing that people can live in, and that includes improving the availability of affordable housing.”
If the Greens are elected, she said the party would introduce incentives to ensure that homeowners rent out their properties rather than leave them empty or sell them as soon as the value increases.
Finding time to campaign while working has been difficult but Spurling said she has been able to get out in the riding and talk with residents.
“I have been doing my best,” she said. “I spend my evenings and weekends door-knocking and campaigning. I have volunteers who are calling people. It is a community effort.”
She is also familiar with the criticisms levelled at her party by the NDP and its supporters, who say support for the Greens will only serve to split the vote and ensure the BC Liberals win another four years in power. Spurling is not buying it.
“That is a tactic the NDP has employed in order to convince people to vote for them instead of the BC Greens,” she said.
Statistically, the party pulls fairly evenly from both BC Liberal and the NDP supporters, and often brings new voters out to the polls who may not have otherwise cast a ballot, she said, pointing to Weaver’s win in Oak Bay-Gordon Head, which saw a 20% increase in turnout over prior elections.
“I am looking to improve the democratic system and give people a choice in this election,” she said. “The Green Party is surging in the polls. At the very least, I want to see an increase in Green turnout and make the Green Party a contender.”
